Shipwreck cannon raised off St. Augustine
- On 29/06/2011
- In Underwater Archeology
- 0 comments
Claire Simms - First Coast News
Archaeologists from the St. Augustine Lighthouse raised a cannon from a shipwreck off the coast today.
They hope the cannon will give them some clue to help identify the wreckage.
The St. Augustine Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program (LAMP) brought a ship's bell to the surface earlier this year, but it did not have the name of the ship engraved on it as archaeologists had hoped.
The workers and onlookers cheered as the cannon cracked the surface for the first time in centuries.
"As you can imagine, everyone's pretty excited," explained Chuck Meide, LAMP director. "We've been building up to this for the past month. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to do this lift because the gun could've been stuck to the bottom."
Divers used a lift to pull the cannons to the surface and quickly wrapped them in wet towels to keep them moist.
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